Wood chipping machine



Sept. 12, 1939. F. PELOT ET AL 2,172,449 I WOOD CHIPPING MACHINE Filed.N0v. 29, 19.37 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN E T Fran/r a ya and ATTORNEYS Sept. 12', 1939.. 4F. PELOT ET AL 'woop CHIPPING MACHINE Filed Nov. 29, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Frank Peiaz and R/cfiard 60212 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WOOD CHIPPIN G MACHINE New York Application November 29, 1937, Serial No. 1 77,026

4 Claims.

Our present invention has reference to certain new and useful improvements in wood chipping machines. These machines are of the class which are industrially used for the purpose of splitting or cutting wood into small pieces or chips of a proper kind and size preparatory to the manufacture of paper pulp therefrom which is employed in the manufacture of all kinds of paper, paper board and the like.

Wood chipping, cutting or disintegrating machines of this general kind may be said to comprise essentially a rotatable disc carying one or more cutting knives, usually four, which knives are located in radial slots in the disc, so that the chips cut by the action of the knives upon the lengths of wood may pass through these slots in the disc and be taken care of there and led off to the point for use. Furthermore, another chief element in the construction of a machine of this character is a feeding spout or trough which is usually located in a suitably inclined position with reference to the disc and adapted to bring the ends of the wood to be cut into contact with the rotatable disc so that the knives may act upon the wood and form the chips, there being also a stationary bed knife arranged in a horizontal position so that it may coact with the knives of the rotatable disc to effectively cut oii" or shear the chips from the wood. It will be quite obvious that in order to obtain the best results it is imperatively necessary that the stationary bed knife should be kept sharp and effective at all times.

As the chips emerge from the cutting action of the knives and pass through the slots or openings in the disc it will be found that they are not all of uniform size, and while the majority may have been cut of the right size and proportions to successfully go through the subsequent treatments for the production of the pulp, yet some of the chips are left unduly large for that purpose and need to be further brokeninto smaller bits. It is necessary, therefore, to provide mechanism to apply this-secondary breaking action to the incompletely reduced chips passing from the first cutters, and this additional mechanism forms the subject-matter of our present invention.

In carrying the same into practical form we rigidly attach on that side of the revolving disc opposite to the feed spout and at points contiguous to the slots through which the streams of cut chips are delivered, multiple groups of plates or pins, which groups are carried around with the rotating disc, and we also provide one or during the rotative action of the disc. Further all these pins or plates, both the movable and the stationary ones, have an arcuate or curved shape, the curvature thereof being on parallel circumferential lines of rotation with relation to the center of rotation of the disc, so that in this rotation of the disc the pins or plates carried thereby will pass by or between the stationary pins or plates .in such a manner that there will be an equal clearance of the pins at all times and throughout the whole of their path of movement,

that is to say the movable pins have paths of movement so centralized with reference to each other, that as these movable pins pass between the stationary pins they will remain equidistant therefrom throughout their entire path of movement and'will not at the points where they pass come any closer together at some times than at other times. This action of the conjoint interlocking movable and stationary pins upon the larger chips which have been left too large by the knives and are too large to pass between the pins without being crushed, performs a further crushing action upon these larger pieces and reduces them to a smaller size more in harmony with the normal size of the rest of the chips which were more evenly and uniformly cut by the knives of the disc. Y

Such a secondary treatment by this additional mechanism enables us to thus utilize a very simple and inexpensive attachment which is most efiec- I tive in its operation because very few of the chips cut by the knives can escape through these pins when they are abnormally large without being further broken or treated so as to cause a fur ther reduction in size, and yet this treatment while strong and powerful. is gentle enough to do no damage to the masses or clusters of good chips which might otherwise pass under the more drastic action of the secondary chip crushing mechanism and be unnecessarily damaged. In the most convenient and approved arrangement these pins or plates are cast ,as a group integral with a support or back which is bolted to the disc in close proximity to the chip opening,

while the stationary pins are supported on a channel or other beam or part of the frame just in the rear of the disc whereby the largest chips cut by the revolving knives may be broken as they pass between the movable and stationary pins.

Our invention therefore consists in a very simple mechanism, associated as an additional feature with a revolving cutting disc so that a secondary reduction in size may be performed on those. chips which happen to be out too large in the first operation; and while the form of the interlocking pins or plates for the second crushing may vary within wide limits, yet it is quite necessary that they should be curved in concentric circles in order to pursue parallel paths and remain at all times equally distant from each other. Such a machine avoids a multiplication of successive operations in complicated independent machines often mechanically employed to attempt to produce similar results, and at the' same time increases the efliciency and is a valuable improvement in the equipment of a mill which prepares wood for the paper-making process, and it must be particularly observed that the shape, size and character of the pins or plates may vary within wide limits, but these pins or plates are made wide or long in the direction where the greatest strain is imposed upon them so that they may be able to stand all the severe shocks and strains which occur from time to time without breaking, and in practice it is found that the peculiar arrangement which we have adopted and utilized in our combination, imparts such a gentle and comparatively easy treatment that the machine operates undamaged and the product thereof has all the qualities which make it excellent for its purpose.

Therefore it may be said that the invention consists essentially in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts, and in numerous details and peculiarities thereof substantially as will be hereinafter more fully described and then pointed out succinctly and definitely in the ensuing clauses of claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating our invention Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of our improved wood chipping machine viewed from the left of the sectional viewof Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view similar to Fig. 1

of our improved wood chipping machine viewedfrom the right hand of the mechanism as represented in the sectional view in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a top plan edge view, certain parts being shown in a schematic manner or represented conventionally to simplify the illustration.

Fig. 5 is a side view showing the movable pins on the disc and the stationary pins on the frame so related to each other by their angular placement that all the movable pins of any one group simultaneously engage the stationary pins instead of successively in other examples of the the open lower mouth of a feed spout or chute which is located contiguous to the revolving disc I and supported on the main frame, the details of which may vary within wide limits. Each knife 3, as shown in the drawings, projects out slightly from the plane surface of the disc I and the distance between the cutting edge of the knife 3 and the disc I determines the thickness of the chips and cuttings produced. A casing 4 surrounds thev disc I, and is conveniently used to enclose the upper portion of the disc I while the lower portion of said disc extends downward into a suitable space formed by the main frame or the construction walls of the apparatus. .The feed spout 8 is located in any desired position, but as we have delineated it in the drawings it is usually found preferable to locateit eccentric with respect to the shaft 2 and inclined at an angle to the horizontal plane through the axis or-shaft 2 and arranged to project through the casing into close proximity to the disc I, as shown in Fig. 2. The particular spout illustrated in thetively portray the design and purpose of our present invention. The rotatable disc and its knives in conjunction with'the bed knife cut the wood into small pieces or chips, but as we have previously intimated some are left rather large and need to be further reduced in order to enable them to be satisfactorily treated in the production of the pulp, and the purpose of our present improvements is to bring about this more complete secondary reduction in size.

The disc I on the side opposite to the spout 6 is provided with groups of members which may be pins or plates Ill. These are made integral with supporting plates or bars 5, which are secured to the disc I by a suitable number of bolts or other attaching means, as for example the bolts I passing through ears 8 on the plates 5, and the bolts 9 passing through the plates 5 near the opposite edge thereof. These supporting plates 5 each carry a row of pins or plates I0, of which there may be any suitable number, as for example six or so, having preferably a transversely arcuate form whose curvature varies in the difierent pins, since each pin will be curved on the arc of the concentric circle in which it lies and has its path of movement, the circles having their center at the center of the actuating shaft 2. For convenience of explanation the circle showing the path of movement of each 'one of the pins is indicated indotted lines in Fig. 3.

There may be as many or as few of these groups of pins or breakers attached to the disc.

Furthermore these groups carried by their re-- spective backing plates 5 are usually placed on lines parallel to the horizontal radius of the cir-' cles forming their paths of movement, the center of the shaft 2 being the center; or in some cases the groups may be located exactly on the radii of said paths, or -at angle thereto. Each group may have as many or as few pins as de- 16 breakage of the chips in order to sustain the strain imposed thereon.

Obviously when a single series or set of pins I0 is being considered, which constitute a single group formed integral with one of the plates 5, it will be understood that the arcs of the members from the innermost to the outermost in the series will be of different curvature, those nearest the center of the paths of movement being more completely curved because their arcs are on a smaller circle than the outermost ones where the arcs are a section of a very much larger circle and hence the curvature of these outermost arcs is less. This is clearly indicated in Fig. 3. As the disc I rotates, the various pins or plates l0 pursue circular paths and the position of each curved pin enables it to remain throughout its entire width exactly in its circular path without deviating therefrom in the slightest degree.

In addition to the several groups of movable horizontal pins, which are thus rigidly attached to the rotatable disc and rotated therewith along the circular paths as specified, all of which paths are concentric with the center of the axis of the actuating shaft 2, we utilize a similar group, one or more, of stationary pins IS with which the movable pins l0 interlock. These stationarypins are carried in like manner by a backing or plate I I, with which they are preferably made integral, which is secured rigidly to a fixed channel beam l2, or some other rigid permanent portion of the main frame of the apparatus or machine. This beam 12 is indicated in Fig. 1 as being mounted at its ends upon suitable masonry or other supporting means. of stationary pins shown at the left in Fig. 3 it will be seen that these pins l3 correspond in their members as to their arcuate form and serial arrangement to the similar groups of movable pins lll, except that they are so located, on different circles that the movable pins I0 will pass between pins I3 in their paths of'movement. The pins l3 are therefore in the main constructed in the same manner as the pins l0, because they are transversely-curved on concentric circles and. are widest in the direction which gives them the greatest strength for actively doing the work without breaking. These pins are moreover shaped with the upper edge of each pin inclined so that the outer end of the pin may be blunt or pointed while the lower edge is adapted to produce a breaking action having in this respect a. form similar to that of the breaker pins ill. The full shape of one of these pins I3 in side view is best shown in Fig. 2, where it is carried by the plate ll bolted on the beam 12. Some suitable arrangement therefore of bolts or other attaching means for uniting the stationary plate II to the supporting beam I2 is used and may be the same as the bolts 1 and 9 employed with the plates 5 that carry the groups of movable pins I, though considerable variation and change in this respect may be allowed within wide latitudes. These groups of stationary pins, or a single group of Taking for example the group' the same, if only one is employed, are ordinarily located on lines that are horizontal and are parallel to the horizontal radii or vertical of the circles in which the movable pins travel, but it is quite conceivable that it will be more convenient at times to arrange these groups of stationary pins on an angle tosuch a radius, in which case the arcuate form thereof will have to be modifled to correspond to the change of angle of their position, so that the movable pins may pass with- .proper clearance between said stationary pins.

This remark applies with equal force to the groups of movable pins l0 which may be located on the face of the rotatable disc in such a way as to be angularly related to the radius of the circle travel.

The stationary pins are variable in size and curvature from end to end in a manner similar to the variation in character of the movable pins,

because, although stationary, theylie in arcs 01' 'm circles which are concentric in order to allow the movement of the other pins along concentric circles to take place between the stationary pins. The only exception with reference to the size and shape of the stationary pins is that the outermost pin of the stationary group is usually made larger as indicated at H in order that the crushing eifect at this point may be more effectively performed. I

Thus it will be seen that we provide a group of stationary pins, and several groups of movable pins which travel along paths between the stationary pins, and act to catch the larger chips between them and crush them in a further reduction of their size. Thus chips which have already been out of the uniform proper size and do not need further disintegration will usually drop between all these various pins as they pursue their interlocking rotary action, but when a larger chip that has escaped the first cutting without being sufficiently reduced in size drops in between the pins or plates constituting this secondary breaking attachment, they will be easily caught and crushed and made much smaller, or at least brought to a proper size where they will be uniform substantially with the rest of the cut pieces and susceptible of pulp treatment when they reach'the digesters. Obviously however, the form of the pins, both movable and stationary, may vary within wide limits provided they are always made to interlock and crush the chips of wood which are engaged between them.

In order to illustrate most eifectiv'ely and give the clearest idea regarding the relationship of the movable and stationary pins when they are .exer'ting their breaking action upon the largest and not an exact reproduction of the relationship of the parts at any one time. The movable disc. I is shown in plan view with one row of thepins I 0 on plate 5 secured thereto. Interlocking with the pins ID are the pins l3 which obviously at any one time will not occupy the precise position shown in Fig. 4 inasmuch as the various pins III of any one group will not all be simultaneously between the stationary pins, because when the outer end pin l0 passes between two of the pins I3, the other pins in of the same group will not yet have reached the position between pins l3 ,but will do so afterwards successively, one at a tending across the path of movement of said slots and a series of substantially alined, movable; crushing means mounted on the rear face offithe ment, but in order that the efiect of the interlocking action of the pins II when they pass between the pins Il may be more readily observed, we have conceived that the portraiture of the pins like that in Fig. 4 would bring out the meaning of the interlocking action in a higher degree. In Fig. 5 we have shown the groups of movable pins placedat a different angle to the group 0 stationary pins, and at such an angle that when in the rotation of disc I each group of pins III meets the pins l3 they will all simultaneously interlock with each other instead of engaging by succession as indicated in Fig. 3. By varying the angles of placement of those different groups the character of the approach of the sets of movable pins to the stationary pins 'can be regulated and controlled in any desired manner, merely by the difference in angular placement of the sets of pins. And we conceive of making wide variations in this respect with different effects on the breakage or crushing of the bits of wood. r

with relation to each other, the movab from thej stationary out, we still desire to make our inventio enough under the terms of the ensuing c ims as to use pins of any shape, form, numbe and arrangement projecting horizontally f'rom the movable discand operating in relation to tionary members, it being only essential t e revolving disc should carry on its side opposite, to where the cutting knives are located, afseries ofprojecting members which rotate therewit and engage with stationary similar members to; atch the largest uncut chips and further'break hem into the necessary reduced form.

What we claim is:

1. In a wood chipper of the class described, a disk having a plurality of knives attachedfto one face thereof and having a slot therethrough in the rear of each knife through which the chips cut by the knife will pass, a series of substantially alined, stationary crushingmeans disposed adjacent the rear face of the disk and adjacent the path of movement of the discharge en said slots, said stationary crushing means: x-

disk in back of-each slot and extending across the path of movement of the slots, in the direc.-

tion of rotation of the disk and adjacent the discharge end of each slot and arranged to coact with the stationary crushing means to crush or break the chips discharged through the slots;

2. In a wood chipper of the class described, a disk having a plurality of knives attached to one face thereof and having a slot therethrough in the rear of each knife through which the chips f the disk in back of each slot, in the direction of rotation of the'disk andadjacent the discharge end of each slot and arranged to coact with the stationary crushing means to crush or break the 'chips discharged through the slots, said stationary crushing means and said movable crushing means being arcuate in shape, the arcs having as their center the axis of rotation of the disk.

3. In a wood chipper of the class described, a disk having a plurality of knives attached to one face thereof and;' having a slot therethrough in the rear of each knife through which the chips cut by the knife will pass, a series of substantially alined, stationary crushing means disposed adjacent the rear face of the disk and adjacent the path of movement of the discharge ends of said slots, said stationary crushing means extendingacross' the path of movement of said slots and a series of substantially alined, movable crushing means mounted on the rear face of the disk in back of eachslot, in the direction of rotation of the disk and adjacent the discharge end of each slot and arranged to coact with the stationary crushing means to crush or break the chips discharged through the slots, each series of movable crushing means being disposed at an angle to a radius of the disk intersecting theouter crushing means and said series of stationary crushing means being disposed at the same angle to a radius of the disk intersecting the outer crushing means whereby all of the members of the stationary series will successively coact simultaneously with all of the members of each movable series.

4. In a wood chipper of the class described a disk having a plurality of knives attached to one face thereof and having a slot therethrough adjacent to and in the rear of each knife through which the chips cut by theknife will pass, a series of stationary crushing pins disposed adiacent the rear face of the disk and adjacent thepath of movement of the discharge ends of said slots, said stationary crushing pins extending across the path of movement of said slots and a series of movable crushing pins mounted on the rear face of the disk in back of each slot, in the direction of rotation of the disk and adjacent the discharge end of each slot and arranged to 

